First Whitetail and VLD's

[NoFences]

I shot my first whitetail last night . I was shooting 168 gr. Berger VLD bullets with 49.5 gr of Varget out of an old Ruger M77 30-06. I shot him right behind the shoulder where I was aiming. He dropped like a rock and expired quickly.

When he dropped, I thought I shot high and spined him. after skinning him out , I found I had hit him exactly where I aimed. I believe the bullet partially fragmented and part of it took out his spine. I recovered the bullet and a fragment on the far side of the animal. I read a lot of mixed reviews on the VLD's, but I'll try the VLD's again.

I also tried Dead Down Wind for the first time. This buck walked out and I moved to grab my rifle. He caught my movement. I was sitting next to a cutbank with an evergreen tree behind me to break up my silhouette. He turned quickly and jumped. He was looking right at me . I had my rifle up at this point , but all I saw was his head. He didn't smell me . He settled and stepped back out . The rest is history. I 'll use Dead Down Wind again.

 

[MMERSS]

Thanks for the post and congratulations! It sounds like that bullet did exactly what it was designed to do under your shooting situation. Thanks for taking the time to share your success!!!

 

[dogbuster0006]

Congrats!!! Glad to see the vld's and scent spray preforming as advertised too. I can't wait to try them out on the ky deer this wkend.
best of luck and happy hunting

 

[the444shooter]

Congrats on the buck!!! Do you have the pic of your bullet and fragment?

 

[NoFences]

Here is a photo of the VLD 168 gr. Hunting bullet. I discarded the fragments as I wasn't thinking about taking a photo of any of this. The fragments I found were smaller than a size # 8 piece of shot. As you can see in the pic, the bullet lost over 100 gr. The backbone was taken out as well as the lungs.

 

[BigMedicine]

Good shooting, and a nice deer to boot ...congrats!gun)

 

[the444shooter]

Very cool! Thank you for sharing.

 

[farout]

Hey NoFences,

Congrats on your first whitetail. Nice one too!

How far was the shot? I don't see that in the thread.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[bigbuck454]

Congratulations on the buck! Awesome test on the VLDs as well. How far do you think he was or more importantly, do you know the ballistics and about how fast the bullet was traveling when it hit the deer? I'm just a little concerned because they are a lighter constructed bullet, and it losing 100grains instead of staying together and punching through the animal.
Mark